We Love Durham NC

Squawkaphony

I was alerted to something happening outside by loud squawking. Bats? No, not this time of day. Smallish black birds with yellow beaks. I don’t know who was louder, the 100s of birds passing through or the resident cardinals and crows protesting at the trespass. I’m interpreting this as: the cold snap we’re experience is here for the season.

Signs of the Season

Fall is upon us. Isn’t the apple crunchy crispness in the air delicious? What are you going to be for Halloween? These guys are going to be jack-o’lanterns.

Flash Flood

I chuckled a little when the Flash Flood alert came across my email yesterday. The sky was clear and it seemed as dry as could be outside. We headed to the store and when we returned through the pouring rain, we saw this around the culvert in the yard. The red lines show the typical size of the creek bed. The blue circles show the size and placement of the pipes. The green line is an attempt to show how deep the water was right beside the pipes. Those 3′ pipes weren’t handling all the water coming down the hill. Within about 15 minutes of the rain slowing, the water had drained 1/2 way.

No joke, eh?

Fireflies!

First fireflies of the summer tonight. Flicker flight, jar alight.

How Hot Is It?

To the trickling of We Love Durham blog readers who don’t live in North Carolina, it’s hot here. It’s so hot my thermostat is set in the high-70s and the A/C hasn’t turned off in a week. It’s so hot the dogs scratch at the door 30 seconds after we let them out. It’s so hot you can’t finish a popsicle outside before it melts. I think we’ll really try that frying an egg on the driveway trick tomorrow for fun.

It’s hot.

Nope, Still No Pool

I should have set up the little kiddie pool out in the rain last week, because it looks like we still can’t fill it up with city water:

Stage III of the ordinance incorporates practices in Stage I and II and sets the level of conservation efforts to require the following Mandatory Measures:

• Customers may water lawns, grass, trees, shrubbery, flowers, golf greens or vegetable gardens on Wednesdays and Saturdays ONLY, between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. OR 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Customers may only water during ONE of the allowed times each Wednesday and Saturday.
• Do NOT wash down outside areas such as sidewalks, patios, driveways, or for other similar purposes.
• Do NOT introduce water into wading pools or swimming pools except to the extent necessary to replenish losses due to evaporation or spillage, and maintain operation of chemical feed equipment. Special consideration may also be given for one-time draining, refilling, maintenance, and cleaning activities for both community and private pools.
• Do NOT serve water in a restaurant or similar establishment except upon request.
• Do NOT use water for any unnecessary purpose or intentionally waste water.
• Do NOT wash the exterior of a motor vehicle except where a private well system is used, or where 50 percent or more of the water is recycled or where it can be demonstrated that 30 gallons of water or less are used to wash the vehicle.

It looks like I could ask for Special consideration to fill it up once, not that I would or should. Bummer.

Goodbye Winter Coats

The new dog shed his winter coat this week. It was a vacuum-twice-a-day, little-puppies-all-over-the-floor, does-he-have-the-mange? shedding.
He knew today’s 80-degree temps were coming.

As for the humans, we have sunburned arms and noses from the playground.

Hooray spring in North Carolina!

Smoke in Durham

The smoke that has settled in the low spots of Durham, including the woodsy areas of SW Durham and also downtown, is apparently coming from a controlled burn in Chatham County. Relief that nothing is on fire!

What’s That Smell?

Outside the Girl’s school, it’s honeysuckle! Little buds pushing out, already ripe with scent. Wait a bit, little guys, don’t you know it’s going to snow next weekend?

Then why is the sky Duke Blue?

Tonight, coming up the hill on Martin Luther King Parkway, we saw a Duke blue… dark purplish royal blue… sky right after sunset. Too bad my camera could not capture it.

Playgrounds with Snow

Photos from the snow on Saturday. We ran a lot of errands on Saturday and got to see snow all over. There was more snow in the South of Durham than downtown.

This is the playground at The Mews apartments in Durham. It had been snowing about an hour.

This one is at Forest Hills Park playground off of University Drive. It is around 5:45pm, and getting dark.

Another of the park. You can see the snow build-up on the railings.

And, same shot with the flash on, you can see how many snowflakes are falling.

Wolf! Wolf!

Now it’s really going to snow tomorrow.

Durham Doppler

Is the Durham YMCA open?

It’s Coming, Say the Crows

There are 4 crows in my yard–one even so brave as to sit on our porch and caw at the dog through the window–which was kind of wigging me out until I heard about the coming freezing rain tomorrow. Then I noticed all the cardinals and other little unidentified birds flying low and searching for a place to snuggle in. It’s coming, say the birds.

And I’m down to a half a loaf of bread and quarter-quart of milk! Storms call for milk sandwiches–whatever will we eat tomorrow?

Glorious Rain

Rain, glorious rain!
Full puddles for splashes.
While we’re in the mood–
Grey clouds and galashes.

Please rain for a tonne today!
Stay in the City of Bull.
Good citizens want it, y’all
Our reservoirs full!

Rain, glorious rain!
Magical rain!
Wonderful rain!
Marvelous rain!
Fabulous rain!

Bring Your Dogs Inside

It’s really cold out. Really, really cold. There’s gotta be a law about this, right?